Growth Coordination Strategy

Edmonton is a young city experiencing significant growth. Over the next 30 years Edmonton will be home to more than 1 million people.

In order to responsibly accommodate this growth, the City has adopted a Growth Coordination Strategy.

Shifting “the way we grow”

The Capital Region Growth Plan, approved by the Capital Region Board in 2010, commits Edmonton and the 24 other municipalities in the region to “manage growth while minimizing the development footprint.” The plan includes density targets for the various parts of the city.

To ensure that the city grows in an environmentally, socially and fiscally responsible manner, the Municipal Development Plan (MDP), The Way We Grow, proposes a new development approach and sets out policies to develop a Growth Coordination Strategy (Section 3.0 – Managing Growth). This means that a Growth Coordination Strategy is not a new policy but instead is one of the key implementation tools of the MDP. The Growth Coordination Strategy begins to implement the policies of The Way We Grow, and can be enhanced over time.

How the Growth Coordination Strategy will work

The Growth Coordination Strategy is a framework to identify and manage future public obligations and accommodate the expected growth of new residential communities through the following actions:

• Monitoring infrastructure commitments and growth indicators as specified in The Way We Grow and incorporating growth information into departmental master plans, financial planning and three and ten-year budget planning. An annual Growth Monitoring Report will be produced that will be used throughout the Administration to better inform their business planning.
• Reporting to City Council through growth monitoring reports and Area and Neighbourhood Structure Plan applications. In addition to receiving an annual Growth Monitoring Report, Council will receive relevant growth information at the time an Area or Neighbourhood Structure Plan is submitted for their consideration.
• Coordinating planning and provision of infrastructure in developing neighbourhoods. This will be done internally through use of consistent, comprehensive and timely information provided to all business areas of the City. A Growth Coordination Committee will allow the opportunity for coordination with external development partners.
• Communicating and collaborating with private, public and non-profit community builders to meet the physical and social/recreational needs of new communities. This will be done through a Growth Coordination Committee which will provide a forum for ongoing discussion and information sharing of growth information well in advance of plan submissions.  A Terms of Reference will be developed for the Committee as a first step in the implementation of the Growth Coordination Strategy.

The Growth Coordination Strategy will also work hand-in-hand with the Integrated Infrastructure Management Planning framework to provide comprehensive, consistent and timely information on how and where the City is growing.  It will identify the requirements and costs associated with the approval of new area and neighbourhood structure plans, rate of growth by sector, neighbourhood completion rates, and other information. 

Determination of how to finance the City’s obligations triggered by growth will be addressed in The Way We Finance. 

Ongoing discussions with stakeholders in the development of new communities, and annual updating of the Growth Monitoring Report, will ensure that the Growth Coordination Strategy continues to evolve to best accommodate expected demand for growth while managing future public obligations.

The coordination of growth and renewal in mature and established neighbourhoods will be the focus of other work by the City.

For more information:

Janet Omelchuk